Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-28

Not worthy cs thee. drar-but an, how blest
Kate Mellersh In Caambers' Journal
THE CINDER PATH.
A party Of four sat at one OF the small
tables in the Hoffman house cafe The
youngest looked as II he was about 80
years OF age, the oldest about 40 The
latter, Is he slipped q glass OF claret, said:
"Iow came you to fall in love with your
legs, Toms l remember you as a swift
runner when We were at school. but you
didn't 60 in particularly for athletic sports
TOR years after you got rid Of the school
master, and about the time you reached
your majority you were bit Of rounder."
Tom blushed At the recollection OF some
OF the foolishness Of his callow DAYS.
'Comc. tell us how you struck your gait"
urged the other. You have won thirty
odd races, I understand" The others
said: go ahead, old boy" Tom said
the telling would occupy too much time.
and wasn't worth II, anyhow. His COM
panions promised to call time IL the story
wasn't up to the mark.
| 1t was tho fault OF very pretty girl"
said Tom, whereat one Of his companions
interrupted the story with an order for an
other bottle Of wine, in honor Of the very
pretty girl, he said Having toasted the
| very pretty girl who was infinitely de-
scribed by request, Tom once more got on
the scratch, aud bent forward for the
word. When it was given he dashed away
II a ten second gait.
If you fe4lows were younger" was his
first heartless remark, ~ could give you
some points that would save you lot Of
trouble and put money in your pockets
However here goes. When l cut loose
from the old homestead drifted, after
"A while, into region that devoted great
deal Of its spare time TO athletic sports
These generally took the shape of foot
races. either walking or running, but gen
orally the latter. wasn't in the sporting
line myself, but rs everybody turned out
To see q race, IL IL promised to be fast and
Close turned out too. A fete champetre
was held in a big park on the outskirts Of
the town one summer day in 1877,
and it was attended by the soci-
ETY. Of the place in a body. Among
other amusements there was . mile
race. Among those who watched the con-
testants a. they struggled to reach the
worsted was the very pretty girl whom
we toasted n few minutes ago. The fel-
low who won the race was an ungainly
looking mortal, who got there by main
strength, but rs he crossed the line n
winner, the very pretty girl said: oh,
isn't he lovelyr Now. he wasn't lovely, |
and knew it. She was girl Of intelli-
gence and education, and I thought she
might be joking. looked at her, and |
a glance satisfied me that she was in ear
nest, In one sense she didn't think he
was lovely, and when he was pointed out |
to her after he had donned suit Of ILL |
fitting clothes she failed TO recognize him, |
and seemed to have lost all interest in |
him. Her exclamation was caused by the |
simple fact that he had proved to be the |
lest man In the race; had come in first.
Now, il she hadn't been such an un- |
commonly nice girl, . belle. in fact, I |
would probably have thought nothing |
more about the matter, but she had lot !
VI admirers, among whom your humble /,
servant was the latest. and the latest had |
. desire to get inside all the others. Some
Of them were amateur athletes, and these |
looked down upon ordinary mortals. They |
had arranged for an athletic meeting six |
weeks from the date OF the fete champetre. |
Why not enter for some Of the events at |
the last moment! The idea was grasped |
and squeezed. Ny business occupied me |
from noon to midnight and after. rose
with the sun, religiously, every morning |
after the resolution to compete at the |
meeting WAS formed. l sought a lonely |
country road and I tore along it for four |
or five miles Then l went home and |
took Q cold bath. For three or four days |
aftcrward walked down stairs |
sideways Stiff doesn't half describe
my condition. But the stiffness wore
OF and kept at my work.
sometimes accompanied the afore
mentioned amateur athletes to the track |
ON which their training was done and
sometimes, after much urging, put on a
pair Of running shoes and entered the lists
against them. Ny only oonfidant at the
time was An old professional runner, who
saw mo practicing one morning and was
good enough to say that might make a
runner In time. I had the pleasure about
. year afterward, in q private trial, of |
showing him my back 80 plainly and per
sistently that he concluded then and there
to retire from the cinder path. Among |
other bits Of good advice he gave was the
injunction never to let the other fellow
know what could do, and to find out, If |
possible, just what my opponent could do. |
Bearing this in mind, il always happened |
that during our trial rakes never came
in first, and was, therefore. considered by /
the other competitors xoIe loser. l had
managed to feel them, however, and when |
the day arrived was excited, but conf |
dent.
"The first race was dash Of 100 yards, |
and there were seven contestants. The |
very pretty girl sat in = carriage where |
she could see everything that was to he |
seen. All the BOYS w.lS rugged out in |
great style. Ny suit COS. me SIS; it was
OF fine black worsted, with claret color |
border thought il WAS the prize rig |
and SO think today. Three Of us ran in
the first heat. There wire two trial heats |
and n final, and aft'a'ward discovered
that could run first Aeat in fully q half
second faster time thar . second. When
I toed the scratch, felt as If were
strung on wires and must have acted like
a cat filled with electricity. To save my
neck / couldn't keep still, though man
aged not 20 go over the lire. l felt sure
of my men, yet wanted IA get the start.
Something In front seemed to be tugging
st me the moment the star tes shouted Get
readyr Both ears were vide open walt
ing for the pistol shot. There was click
and I was Oft like q bullet
at was a snap shot and l was called
back. but must have covered fifty yards
before heard word. Well, We got on
the sSiatch again and waited for the
pistol. One second, two seconds passed,
and 40 report 1t seemed to me that an
hou, had expired since I got on that
scratch. turned to see what was the
matter, and the moment got my back to
1 tlo mo-